Traditionally, driving ranges were established to allow players to practice their golf game on an open field. During game play, a player strikes a golf ball at a flag placed some distance away and the player visually attempts to determine the landing position of the ball in relation to the flag. In view of the distance travelled by the golf ball, the relatively small size of the golf ball, weather and other such considerations, game play at a driving range has been limited to a singular and personal experience, in which the player could not compete with or play against other players in the driving range.
Driving ranges have increased in sophistication and include targets and score-keeping equipment, which reward the player when the target is hit or when the golf ball lands near the target.
One method for tracking golf balls includes embedding Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) in golf balls used at the facility. These RFID golf balls have encoded values that can be detected by a generated radio frequency and antenna. The RFID in the ball is associated with a player or a particular hitting bay before it is hit by the player. When the player uses an RFID ball that is hit into a target area, that particular ball RFID is detected at a target equipped with RFID detection devices. This enables electronic scoring of hits on particular targets or target areas and the determination of which player hit which target area. This information can then be automatically detected by computer systems and used to score games that the player participates in.
Other technologies that may be used in combination with, or instead of, RFID identification have also been suggested. These include the use of Doppler radar, camera systems, lasers or positioning technologies, e.g. time-of-flight technologies.
Also, golf targets that may be used for gaming and/or gambling can be expected to require extremely high levels of accuracy to satisfy gaming regulators. Furthermore, golf targets may have to ensure that players are never “cheated” and that the game performs precisely as represented.
Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a golf ball tracking system and method tracks a plurality of balls with a high degree of integrity and redundancy from driving spaces or hitting bays to targets. Additionally, it would be beneficial to provide a golf ball target authentication system and method that authenticates the target is hit by the golf ball.